J. Robert King

Last updated
J. Robert King
Born Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.
Pen nameJohn R. King
Occupation
  • Novelist
  • editor
  • game designer
NationalityAmerican
Genre Role-playing games, fantasy

J. Robert King is an American fantasy novelist and former editor and game designer. He also writes non-fantasy fiction as John R. King. [1]

Contents

Biography

J. Robert King was born in Phoenix, Arizona, and grew up in northwestern Indiana. [2] He knew he wanted to be a writer since fourth grade: "I wanted to be a writer because of The Chronicles of Narnia (by C.S. Lewis). A teacher read one of them to us in third grade... I thought I'd check out the rest of the books. I loved them so much; they provided such an escape. I really wanted to be able to create that sort of escape for other people. They were the sort of fantasy that got me excited about writing." [2] King majored in Theology and the Humanities at Valparaiso University. [2] He worked for two years as an editor for a non-fiction publisher, and then took an editing job at TSR. [2]

King worked on a number of products for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game; his design work includes the Monstrous Compendium Forgotten Realms Appendix II (1991), the Book of Crypts (1991) for Ravenloft , Unsung Heroes (1992) and Tales of the Lance (1992) for Dragonlance , and Aurora's Whole Realms Catalog (1992) for Forgotten Realms. [3] He wrote his first novel, Heart of Midnight, for the Ravenloft setting, soon after his hiring at TSR; other novels include Carnival of Fear for Ravenloft, Vinas Solamnus for Dragonlance , and the Planescape Blood Wars Trilogy: Blood Hostages , Abyssal Warriors , and Planar Powers. [2]

King treasures two of his earliest books, Rogues to Riches and Summerhill Hounds , both intended for younger readers: "They're two of my favorite books... but probably read the least. I think when we write for the older, mainstream audience we tend to make it gritty to convince people that these aren't fairy tales but "real" fantasy. I felt obliged to write something more optimistic, hopeful, and beautiful." [2] Planar Powers, for which he won the 1997 Origins Award for best game-related fiction, [4] "is the third book in a very strange trilogy. The thing about that book is its sense of experimentation and humor. In writing it, I decided I wanted to write a book backward, starting broad and ending very narrow, a complex thing that became more simple. The first book [in the series] is a tragedy, in which the character's flaw leads to his destruction. The second book is a passion play, in which the character is redeemed by the sacrifice of another, and the third book I wrote as a comedy, in which the flaws of the character lead to his salvation." [2]

With the success of his writing (and with two young sons by the late 1990s), King left his editing position to write full-time. [2] He wrote a number of novels for the Magic: the Gathering setting, including Time Streams and a trilogy of the Phyrexian Cycle. [5] and the second book in the tie-in novel series for ArenaNet's Guild Wars 2 , Edge of Destiny. [6] [7] He also Arthurian novel Mad Merlin for Tor Books, [2] followed by Lancelot du Lethe, [5] and Le Morte D'Avalon [8] as the Mad Merlin trilogy, among other novels and various short fiction forms.

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References

  1. ↑ The Shadow of Reichenbach Falls. Forge Books – via Amazon.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Kenson, Stephen (March 1999). "Profiles: J. Robert King". Dragon . Renton, Washington: Wizards of the Coast (#257): 120.
  3. ↑ "Pen & Paper :: RPG Database > J. Robert King". 25 February 2005. Archived from the original on 25 February 2005.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  4. ↑ "GAMA - The 1997 Origins Awards". gama.org.
  5. 1 2 "J. Robert King". Archived from the original on February 24, 2009.
  6. ↑ "Jeff Grubb on Writing the First Guild Wars Novel – ArenaNet Blog". 21 March 2012. Archived from the original on 21 March 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  7. ↑ "J. Robert King talks about the second Guild Wars 2 novel, Edge of Destiny".
  8. ↑ "Fiction Book Review: LE MORTE D'AVALON by J. Robert King, Author. Tor $25.95 (464p) ISBN 978-0-7653-0594-7".
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